onemini2
Latest
HTC doesn't see a future in 'mini' smartphones (update: it might)
We hope you weren't pinning your hopes on a downsized version of HTC's One M9 smartphone, as you probably won't get it... or anything like it in the future, for that matter. HTC's Jack Tong says that the company is ditching the One mini phone range because the "industry is moving" to phones with 5-inch and larger screens. Why build a cut-down version of a handset when most of your customers want something big? The move makes sense given that the One mini doesn't really drive sales like its full-size sibling. Still, this is bad news if you like smaller smartphones -- while there are certainly alternatives on the market, it's good to have more options. Update: HTC tells us that this was a misquote. As it explains to Phone Scoop, Tong did say that 5-inch and larger phones were the future, but he didn't say the mini line was finished. This isn't to say that you'll see a One M9 mini -- just that phones like it are still a possibility at some point.
HTC One mini 2 review: A worthy new addition to the premium One clan
HTC created what was undoubtedly one of the best smartphones of last year with the original One. That was later followed up by the One mini, which was surprising in the sense that the handset maker hadn't before attempted a slimmed-down, scaled-back version of any of its flagship devices. HTC's nemesis Samsung established this trend when it launched the Galaxy S III mini, and it inspired many discussions about the ethics of slapping the name of top-tier handsets onto lesser devices. (Sony obviously made an executive decision to avoid the "mini" epithet for its Xperia Z1 Compact, which is actually just a smaller, but equally specced version of the flagship Z1.)
